Agreed, this was entirely preventable. The grid is under significant stress already due to the electrification of transport (and likely to become much more stressed on account of that in the near future) so all this is beginning to add up to a perfect storm.

Big European cities have pretty crummy infrastructure and upgrading that is both costly and time consuming. The next years will give a massive boost to energy independence though, which in many ways is a good thing, it's just that we are no longer in control of the timetable and given the fact that until not all that long ago at least my country was selling their gas for wholesale prices that were pretty much a giveaway I really wonder why nobody seems to be doing much in terms of long term planning. Frustrating.